It could take at least a week before power is fully restored to all parts of South Australia following the unprecedented state-wide power blackout on Wednesday 28 September, which was brought on by a 'one in 50-year' weather event, electricity industry sources have warned.
Much of the network around Adelaide is on line and operating normally, with power companies starting up from mid-evening Wednesday, after being forced to shut down earlier in the day.
"In the north of the state, the network companies are seeking to determine what protection equipment worked, and what didn't," one senior electricity industry figure said. "They can't just bring the network back up, since this could trigger the same failure.
"There was a similar situation in the North East of the US about a decade ago which took weeks to bring the network back up. This could be similar."
But why all of South Australia was blacked out for a time on Wednesday out is yet to be clarified.
"Lightening strikes knocked out transmission towers in the north of the state. That shouldn't have taken out the rest of the state," the industry figure said.
The Australian Energy Markets Operator, which runs both the national gas and electricity energy markets, forced a shutdown of all power generators late on Wednesday.
It has blamed the severe storm for damaging transmission and distribution assets within the state, leading to the state-wide power outage.
It is expected to conduct a full inquiry to clarify the reasons for the disruption.
